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Updated: Jun 23, 2026
Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Microperfusion-induced elevation of ADC is suppressed after contrast in breast carcinoma
Sachiko Yuen1, Kei Yamada, Mariko Goto
1Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. syuen@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
Purpose:
To investigate the effect of gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA on the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of breast carcinoma and to analyze the relationship between pre/postcontrast ADC and the degree of contrast enhancement.
Materials And Methods:
Nineteen histopathologically confirmed breast carcinomas (mean size = 22 mm) were analyzed. Their ADCs before and after contrast administration were measured. The contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of the tumors were measured on fat-suppressed 3D T1-weighted images in precontrast, early, and late postcontrast phases. These results were correlated with the measured ADC values.
Results:
A significant decrease in the measured ADC was noted after contrast administration (-23%, P = 0.01). Lesions with relatively high ADC before contrast (>1.3 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec; n = 12) demonstrated a larger degree of ADC reduction (mean 34%) than lesions with low ADC (< or =1.3 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec; n = 7) (mean 4.5%). When an early postcontrast image was used as a surrogate marker of malignant potential, we found a significant inverse correlation with postcontrast ADC (gamma = -0.57, P = 0.02).
Conclusion:
Postcontrast ADC exhibited lower values than precontrast ADC, which is thought to reflect suppression of the microperfusion-induced effect on diffusion-weighted imaging. Postcontrast ADC may be a better indicator than precontrast ADC to reflect malignant potential of tumors.
